Asia Art Archive's annual Open Platform programme, held in partnership with Art Basel in Hong Kong, is an integral part of AAA's endeavour to enable new thinking and critical dialogue around recent art in Asia. Selected proposals from an open call bring cultural practitioners from all disciplines to participate in a series of 'meetings without walls' hosted at the AAA booth. By leveraging AAA's network, Open Platform supports researchers, curators, writers, artists, students, academics, and art organisations to further ongoing projects, catalyse new ones, or simply make connections.
The expanded 2016 edition includes a discursive live events platform designed by local architects commissioned through an open call—the structure will subsequently be adapted for a second location.
#AsiaArtArchive #OpenPlatform2016
Tue, 22 Mar
3-5pm New Body Politics: Art or Dance?
Susan Sentler, Faculty of Performing Arts in Dance, Lasalle College of the Arts, Singapore
4:30-5pm New Body Politics: Art or Dance?
Alice Rensy, Choreographer Performance
5:30-7pm Front Room Conversations
Paul Chan, Artist, New York with Ingrid Chu, AAA Public Programmes Curator & Hammad Nasar, AAA Head of Research & Programmes
Wed, 23 Mar
12:30-2pm Front Room Conversations
Ko Sin Tung, Sara Wong & Wong Wai Yin, Artists, with Jane DeBevoise, AAA Chair of the Board of Directors & Anthony Yung, AAA Senior Researcher
2:30-4pm Critical Spatial Practice: Reconsidering the Art-Architecture Interchange
Shirley Surya, Associate Curator, Design and Architecture, M+
4:30-6pm An Ocean Archive
MAP Office, Artists & Educators, Hong Kong
Thu, 24 Mar
2-3:30pm A Balancing Act: Nonprofits in the Arts
Yeewan Koon, Associate Professor, Department of Fine Arts, HKU & Michelle Wong, AAA Researcher
4-5:30pm 2015 Yishu Award for Critical Writing on Contemporary Chinese Art Ceremony & What China?
Keith Wallace, Editor-in-Chief, Yishu
6-7:30pm New Pacific Geographies, Collaboration, and Patronage Katherine Ann
Leilani Tuider, Co-Founder, Honolulu Biennial Foundation
Fri, 25 Mar
2-3:30pm Paper Voices: Artists' Books and Independent Publishing in Greater China
Josef Bares, Artist, Hong Kong, Beatrix Pang, Artist/Publisher, Small Tune Press, Hong Kong & Yuling Zhong, Editor, M+
4-5:30pm Archive Between Present and Future
Mia Yu, Art Historian & Pan Lu, Assistant Professor, Department of Chinese Culture, PolyU
6-7:30pm Taking a Good Hard Look at What Art Does
Binna Choi & Michelle Wong, 2016 Gwangju Biennale Curatorial Team
Sat, 26 Mar
11:30am-1pm It Begins with a Story: Artists, Writers, and Periodicals in Asia
Sneha Ragavan & Chuong-Dai Vo, AAA Researchers
2:30-3pm New Body Politics: Art or Dance?
Alice Rensy, Choreographer Performance
4:30-6pm Cardboard Lives
Tintin Wulia, Artist, Melbourne
Tuesday 22 March
New Body Politics: Art or Dance? | 3–5pm
Performance by Alice Rensy in collaboration with Nathalie Rothkoff | 4:30–5pm
A look at art and the body as a medium to explore how dance works within gallery and museum spaces. The session questions the architecture and historicity of the spaces themselves, and asks how the form can 'fit in' or challenge the spaces based on the specific needs of the body.
Host:
Susan Sentler, Faculty of Performing Arts in Dance, Lasalle, Singapore
Participants:
Anna Cy Chan, Head Artistic Development in Dance, West Kowloon Cultural District, Hong Kong
Ingrid Chu, AAA Public Programmes Curator
Alice Rensy, Choreographer, Hong Kong
Bala Starr, Director, Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), Singapore
Chantal Wong, AAA Strategy & Special Projects and Co-Founder, things that can happen
Front Room Conversations: Paul Chan | 5:30–7pm
A discussion with the Hong Kong-born New York-based artist, writer, and independent publisher on his recent projects and Badlands Unlimited imprint.
Hosts:
Ingrid Chu, AAA Public Programmes Curator
Hammad Nasar, AAA Head of Research & Programmes
Wednesday 23 March
Front Room Conversations: Ko Sin Tung, Sara Wong & Wong Wai Yin | 12:30–2pm
A conversation among an intergenerational group of women artists living and working in Hong Kong.
Hosts:
Jane DeBevoise, AAA Chair of the Board of Directors
Anthony Yung, AAA Senior Researcher
Critical Spatial Practice: Reconsidering the Art-Architecture Interchange | 2:30–4pm
An attempt to articulate what constitutes a truly reciprocal interchange between Art and Architecture beyond the token 'inter-disciplinary' cause through the framework of Critical Spatial Practice. What conceptual-formal manifestations exemplify the exercise of social critique and reflection on existing conditions through architectural design? What are the motivations, methodology, and effects (even trappings or necessity) of such disciplinary engagements?
Host:
Shirley Surya, Associate Curator, Design and Architecture, M+
Participants:
Ute Meta Bauer, Director, NTU Centre for Contemporary Art, Singapore
Nikolaus Hirsch, Architect, Curator & Editor, Frankfurt
Betty Ng, Architect & Founder of COLLECTIVE, Hong Kong
Kacey Wong, Artist, Hong Kong
Sara Wong, Artist & Landscape Designer, Hong Kong
An Ocean Archive | 4:30–6pm
With a performance by Mariana Hahn, MAP Office extends their residency project Atlas of AAA to rethink the present map of Asia through a compilation of islands, archipelagos, and what is left in between. They navigate the continent to explore the potential specificities related to Asian territory with the ocean, and to determine how the dissemination of land directs a new reading of contemporary art in the region.
Hosts:
MAP Office (Laurent Gutierrez & Valerie Portefaix), Artists & Educators, Hong Kong
Participants:
Mariana Hahn, Artist, Berlin
Jaimey Hamilton Faris, Associate Professor of Critical Theory and Contemporary Art, University of Hawai'i, Honolulu
HG Masters, Writer and Editor, Istanbul
Jesse Mc Lin & Julie Progin, Art Director & Co-Founders, Latitude 22N, Hong Kong
Pelin Tan, Sociologist and Art Historian, Mardin
Thursday 24 March
A Balancing Act: Nonprofits in the Arts | 2–3:30pm
Employing a 'speed dating' model, eight invited speakers are asked a series of questions within ten minutes by students from the Hong Kong Art History Research Workshop, an AAA and Hong Kong University course collaboration. The session asks how non-profit organisations shape public discourses on art in the social, political, and educational spheres during a period of increased attention to the art market.
Hosts:
Yeewan Koon, Associate Professor, Department of Fine Arts, HKU
Michelle Wong, AAA Researcher
Participants:
Students of Hong Kong Art Workshop, The University of Hong Kong
Marko Daniel, Convenor, Public Programmes, Tate
Aaron Cezar, Founding Director, Delfina Foundation
Eve Tam, Museum Director, Hong Kong Museum of Art
Marysia Lewandowska, Artist
Anita Chung, Chief Operating Offier, Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation
Cosmin Costinas, Executive Director/Curator, Para Site
Stanley Siu, Co-founder, 100ft Park
Binna Choi, Director, Casco - Office for Art, Design and Theory
Claire Hsu, Co-founder and Executive Director, Asia Art Archive
2015 Yishu Award for Critical Writing on Contemporary Chinese Art Ceremony & What China? | 4–5:30pm
Key issues including ethnicity, nationhood, political will, globalisation, cultural investment, and the art market enter into a discussion on the complexities inherent in attempting to describe, discuss, and challenge a definition of contemporary Chinese art. How has the designation of 'Chinese' in contemporary Chinese art become a generalisation that sidesteps the acknowledgement of differing, and at times contradictory, histories not only within mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, but also its extensive diaspora?
Host:
Keith Wallace, Editor-in-Chief, Yishu: Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art, Vancouver
Participants:
Stephanie Bailey, Senior Editor, Ibraaz; Contributing Editor, LEAP; Editor-at-large, Ocula
Dong Bingfeng, Artistic Director, OCAT Institute, Beijing
Ingrid Chu, AAA Public Programmes Curator
Julie Chun, Art Historian, Royal Asiatic Society China, Shanghai
Diana Freundl, Associate Curator, Asian Art, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver
Lesley Ma, Curator of Ink, M+, Hong Kong
Zheng Shengtian, Managing Editor, Yishu: Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art
New Pacific Geographies, Collaboration, and Patronage | 6–7:30pm
A holistic examination of the state of patronage in the Pacific; the rise of emerging art centres in the region; and shifting geographies of new contemporary art centres internationally, with a particular emphasis on Hong Kong, Sydney, Auckland, and Honolulu.
Host:
Katherine Ann Leilani Tuider, Co-Founder, Honolulu Biennial Foundation
Participants:
Aileen Burns & Johan Lundh, Executive Directors, Institute of Modern Art (IMA), Brisbane
Ioana Gordon-Smith, Tautai Contemporary Pacific Arts Trust, Auckland
Jaimey Hamilton Faris, Associate Professor of Critical Theory and Contemporary Art, University of Hawai'i at Manoa
MAP Office, Artists, Hong Kong
Amna Naqvi, Co-Founder, AAN Foundation & AAN Collection
Friday 25 March
Paper Voices: Artists' Books and Independent Publishing in Greater China | 2–3:30pm
Artists, curators, and small publishers weigh in on recent developments around the 'artist book' and its popularity among a younger generation of artists in greater China. While opening up an autonomous zone of creative freedom that is off-line, yet networked, the development also brings up an old dilemma between creativity and control.
Hosts:
Josef Bares, Artist, Hong Kong
Beatrix Pang, Artist/Publisher, Small Tune Press
Yuling Zhong, Editor, M+
Participants:
Erik Bernhardsson, Publisher, Modes Vu, China/EU
Craig Cooper, Artist/Editor, Madame Wang, Hong Kong/UK
Feng Junhua, Publisher, Fuben Books, Guangzhou
Kit Hammonds, Index Art Book Fair Mexico; Vernacular Institute; Independent Curator, Taiwan
Lee Wei-I, Publisher, Voices of Photography, Taiwan
Amy Sherlock, Reviews Editor, frieze
Yan You, Publisher, Jiazazhi Press, Beijing
Joseph Yiu & Max Tsoi, Designer/Publishers, MAJO Design, Hong Kong
Zhu Jianlin & Feng Waiking, Artist/Publishers, Fong Fo, Guangzhou
Archive Between Present and Future | 4–5:30pm
Artists, curators, scholars, and activists whose current practice creatively engages archives and archive-making gather for discussion to unpack key questions centred on their activation and display, and explore divergent modes of artistic, curatorial, and historiographical strategies.
Hosts:
Mia Yu, Art Historian
Pan Lu, Assistant Professor, Department of Chinese Culture, PolyU
Participants:
Nikita Yingqian Cai, Curator, Guangdong Times Museum, China
Lee Kai Chung, Artist, Hong Kong
Elaine Lin, AAA Collection Manager
Christopher Phillips, Curator, International Center of Photography (ICP), New York
Shen Ruijun, Artist & Curator, Guangzhou
Pelin Tan, Artist & Sociologist, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Teng Chao-Ming, Artist, Taiwan
Taking a Good Hard Look at What Art Does | 6–7:30pm
A discussion taking a 'good hard look' at what art does by conversing with those who make it, teach it, show it, and write about it. If art offers a way to engage with what lies ahead of us in generating 'new pasts', how do we articulate what art does? How does the mediation of art help make sense of surrounding realities as contexts shift, transfer, and transform?
Hosts: Binna Choi & Michelle Wong, 2016 Gwangju Biennale curatorial team
Saturday 26 March
It Begins with a Story: Artists, Writers, and Periodicals in Asia | 11:30–1pm
An exploration of the periodical from which discourses on modern and contemporary
art are produced, contested, and reconfigured. Looking at popular, cultural, and literary magazines, as well as self-published zines, artist-run magazines, and journals,
this session examines how artists write about art; how artists and writers draw on myths, religious texts, fictional stories, and folktales; and how the figure of the artist is imagined by novelists and poets.
Hosts: Sneha Ragavan & Chuong-Dai Vo, AAA Researchers
Participants:
Jane DeBevoise, art historian and AAA Chair of the Board of Directors
Daniel Ho, Editor-in-Chief, Ran Dian
Dana Langlois, Founder & Owner, Java Arts and The Boat, Phnom Penh
Lesley Ma, Curator, Ink Art, M+
Xue Tan, Assistant Curator, Tai Kwun
New Body Politics: Art or Dance? | 2:30–3pm
Performance: Alice Rensy, Choreographer in collaboration with Nathalie Rothkoff
Cardboard Lives | 4:30-6pm
Various parties from the different nodes of the cardboard waste trade around Central in Hong Kong gather at AAA's booth. A follow-up meeting entitled Cardboard Lives On will take place as part of Wulia's upcoming solo exhibition 'Trade/Trace/Transit' in July 2016.
Host:
Tintin Wulia, Artist
Participants:
Riza Arnesto, Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW), Hong Kong
Terry Choi, Co-Owner, Hing Li Collection Point & MA Environmental Engineering Student, Hong Kong
Anneke Coppoolse, Street-level Trash Collection Researcher, Hong Kong
Wong Lik Wai, Urban Studies Student, Hong Kong
#AsiaArtArchive #OpenPlatform2016
Presented by Asia Art Archive
Supported by Wendy Lee & Stephen Li, Lavina & William Lim, and Elaine & Anto Marden
Design Partners: COLLECTIVE, Hong Kong
Construction Partner: EDM Construction Ltd., Hong Kong
Advisory Committee: Prof. Colin Fournier, MAP Office, SKY YUTAKA
Media Partners: frieze and Ran Dian
Special Thanks: The AAA Team, Iftikhar Dadi & Elizabeth Dadi, Nathalie Rothkoff, and Uniplan
AAA is a Cultural Partner of Art Basel in Hong Kong for 2016.
